Ash Wednesday+B 2015 The Reverend Robert R.M. Bagwell+
March 5th
There is no day like Ash Wednesday. Here we are all for the moment on the same
level, acknowledging things we had rather not think about much less speak of,
and yet here we are! ARemember you are dust, and to dust you
shall return?@ I don=t
know about you, but that=s
not very uplifting or complimentary and yet...it is true. Today, the powerful and the weak, the meek,
the arrogant and the humbleBthe
rich and the poor, all must ultimately acknowledge the pretense that many spend
their whole lives protecting: we A..are
dust and to dust we will return.@
This liturgy is very moving even under the
best of circumstances, but for some of us who have experienced a
life-threatening illness or a near death experience, it can be abruptly
disturbing. Ash Wednesday is not about
comfort. It is about startling reality. Today we acknowledge that life is both the
good and happy times as well as the not so good and difficult times. We liturgically observe what psychiatrist
Scott Peck wrote: Alife is
difficult@. A corollary to that statement made a
wonderful bumper stickerBAlife is difficult, handle with prayer.@
That is what we are here today to doBto prayBfor
ourselves, our families, our nation and our world. It is all too evident in those arenas that we
are dust. But in the acknowledgment of
today=s pain
and difficulty, there is a word of hope...especially on Ash Wednesday. It comes
from the apostle Paul who wrote, speaking from the Lord=s
Divine inspiration: Abehold,
now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.@ABehold,..
now is the day of salvation. Notice that this day is not about the sweet
bye and bye, but about the here and now of our lives. Ash Wednesday and indeed
Lent itself is a voyage into self-discovery.
It's existence is first recorded in a seventh century document. In the
last several decades the concept of Adiscovering
who I am@ has been
very popular in the secular culture. Fo r the Christian, the season of Lent is
just such an offering of opportunity. We offer a structureBan opportunity to covenant with God on
the journey to Awho we
are@ and "who we are becoming.".
I don=t
know how some of you regard your spiritual histories, but when I begin to reflect on the present, it
sometimes draws me to the pastBto
what made me come to love Jesus Christ, to what forged the relationship that I
have enjoyed, sometimes taken for granted and have grown to depend upon since
Jesus Christ first entered my life.
This opportunity afforded us each Lent may be
easily brushed off. Somehow, we may
think that development of the interior lifeBwhich
by the way is the basis for the whole issue of self-esteemBcan wait until later. Right now, our jobs demand attention. Our spouses and children demand our
attention. Our bills, our maintenance of
our own private worlds demand our immediate attention, but have we been in
error in our priorities? God=s call to us is very specific in
Lent. We veil our beautiful things to
remind us that God=s glory
is veiled from our eyes. We fast from enjoyingBtaking
for grantedBGod=s self-giving. Out of time we enter
timelessness in the eternal cycle of God=s
redemption.
We may actually allow ourselves to be redeemed
this Lent. Lent may be about self-help with God=s help.
Who could ask for more? One writer noted that Lent, penitence and
abstinence are not for God's sake but for our own! It reminds us of who we are.
The same writer called repentance the foundation of our joy. Lent is an invitation to return to our first
love for God. It is an invitation to
discover the living God perhaps for the first time. Lent recalls us to our
roots as Christians.
We place a mark on our foreheads. Let us look at this as a reiteration of the
cross of oil placed on our foreheads at baptism, a cross of ashes that is a
visible "birth mark". I have
been born into Jesus Christ. But it is
our own sign of mortality, we know that life is limited, our time is short, our
actions are limited. Remember that you
are dust and to dust you shall return. Lent
is modeled after Jesus=
forty days in the wilderness. That means
it is an exercise in endurance and spiritual growth. You mean Jesus had to grow spiritually? Yes, according to the Bible and according to
His full humanity, he did develop spiritually. (Luke 2:52) Lent is an invitation to a way of living and
being. Christianity was first called Athe Way@. Sometimes we replace Athe
Way@ with a religion that does not give a
way but a religious observance that is a substitute for Jesus= Away@. This has never been the intent of the Church,
but sometimes it happens.
We are challenged to Atake
on@ in Lent. ATake
on!@ you may say, I=ve
got so much going now, I can=t
get it all done! Then Lent may be calling you to Alet
go@. Take on what matters. Let go of what on your death bed, will not
matter at all.
Today we make real the baptismal covenant promise that we
have made over and over again in public services: Awill
you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and
return to the Lord?A If you
are like most of us, you have somewhat mindlessly read the words, AI will with God=s
help.@ Today is the opportunity to make a
choice. The choice is to choose or not
to choose. Either we will take God and
his Word seriously or not. The prophet Joel exhorts the people of his time to
urgency. The time is short. Do we indeed know how much time we have? Have not the last two years taught us that
there are no guarantees. If we would enter more deeply into that which will
endure, we are urged to do it now! If
you will, we are urged to take advantage of the salvation living that Jesus
Christ offers. How sad that so many Christians live outside the life of God
until their own self-sufficiency proves inadequate. Lent saysBAsh
Wednesday says, choose sufficiency in God.
God is not dust. God will not
return to dust. God makes our dust
Divine through Jesus Christ our Lord.
May God make for you a deeper, fuller experience of living His live in
you this Lent and may you come forth strengthened and renewed for Divine
purpose.
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